BBC 'planning iTunes-style download service' for its TV back catalogue, with prices

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

BBC 'planning iTunes-style download service' for its TV back catalogue, with prices

The BBC is discussing plans for a new paid-for TV download service to offer older shows.
The service would offer instant access to the BBC's huge back catalogue of shows - only seven per cent of which is available online at present.

Under the new scheme - codenamed Project Barcelona, according to a unnamed insiders quoted by PaidContent - the BBC would offer these older shows on a 'download to own' basis, with prices from around £1.89.

The idea of the new service is to offer shows that might not be popular enough for a DVD box set to the public.
BBC executives are reportedly already in negotiations with producers about how the system would work.

So far, PaidContent reports, no firm details about how the system would work have been set.

At present, the BBC's iPlayer streaming service offers free access to shows via PCs and other devices - but it expires in 30 days, and some shows simply stop being available.

The scheme would put the BBC's service on a collision course with major web-TV players such as iTunes, Netflix and Lovefilm.

A BBC spokesman said, 'In addition to BBC iPlayer, the BBC already makes some of its content available on a download-to-own basis. Any proposal to extend this facility would require not just the support of the industry but formal approval by the BBC Executive and the BBC Trust..'

It would also raise questions about the BBC's funding via the licence fee.

PaidContent claims to have insider information on the scheme, which it describes as one of the most radical shake-ups in the BBC's history.